If anybody understands what it means to partner with Atlético Ottawa, it’s Ron Palaczka. The CEO of LRO Group of Companies in Ottawa, Palaczka is one of the minds behind Julian de Guzman Park in Carlsbad Springs, something he calls a passion project. “This was a project, a business venture, that we knew wasn’t going […]
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If anybody understands what it means to partner with Atlético Ottawa, it’s Ron Palaczka.
The CEO of LRO Group of Companies in Ottawa, Palaczka is one of the minds behind Julian de Guzman Park in Carlsbad Springs, something he calls a passion project.
“This was a project, a business venture, that we knew wasn’t going to make tons of money. It was literally (a case of), ‘Let’s do whatever we can not to lose money.’ But when I grew up playing soccer in (Ottawa), you didn’t have these types of facilities. You would go to a city field where there weren’t any washrooms, benches or anything like that. You literally just went to play and hoped the grass was cut and the fields were lined,” he told OBJ recently.
It was through his involvement with JDG Park that he met the Atlético Ottawa team.
“When TD Place isn’t available for their training sessions … they would be training out of Julian de Guzman Park. That’s how the relationship was established with Atlético Ottawa, as well as many other (Canadian Premier League) teams and other teams like the Ottawa Rapid FC and Halifax Tides from the (Northern Super League),” he said.
When Atlético looked to form a partnership with JDG Park, things snowballed from there to include a partnership with his company — and more.
“When we were putting a partnership deal together, we ended up having a meeting in my office on Bank Street. That’s when I explained to Manolo (Vega, CEO of Atlético Ottawa) that, as my wife says, LRO Staffing and LRO Solutions are the businesses that pay the bills.”
In addition to inking a partnership agreement, Palaczka committed to a deeper involvement with the team by becoming its chief strategy officer last August. It's the type of meaningful involvement that the team now seeks in any potential partner.
“The relationship is so much deeper than a logo on a jersey,” he said. “I think we’re seeing a lot of success with the partners that are already champions of our club because they’re season seat members. We’ve taken the strategy of slowing down and looking at who are the people that have been supporting us all these years.”
Atlético Ottawa benefits from the CPL’s national partners, including Maple Lodge Farms as the team’s front-of-kit partner, Palaczka said. But each national partner is involved on a local level as well, such as Volkswagen and CAA.
Also on the local level, Atlético has brought on businesses such as Intega IT, Saf Performance, Flora Hall Brewing, Glebe Central Pub and Gunn Media, businesses that have committed to being more than a partner in name.
Last week, the team announced that Flora Hall was joining as the craft beer partner, with a custom brew launching next week.
“Here’s a great example of a local champion,” Palaczka said. “You’ve got an award-winning local brewery right down the street from the stadium and (the owner is) a season ticketholder. It’s super-exciting that we’re supporting an amazing local business. I think these types of partnerships are easy because we want to do everything we can to support (owner Dave Longbottom’s) business because we’ve seen how much he’s done over the years to support us.”
Another good example, Palaczka said, is Saf Performance. “Before Ibby (Soukary, owner of Saf Performance) became a partner with us, he was already supporting our players. In the off-season, when they wanted to stay fit and be in the best condition before the season started, they had a place to go to. We’re really excited about the partnership with Saf Performance this year because not only do we have a partnership where our players have a place to go for rehab or strength and conditioning, but Ibby is also on our sporting staff.”
In the past year, Palaczka said interest in partnering with the club has increased thanks to the hype around the FIFA World Cup and the team’s CPL final game, where forward David Rodríguez did the viral “icicle kick” to win the match in wintery conditions.
“That game, that goal!” he said of the final. “The ‘icicle kick’ was seen globally. We had incredible exposure as a result of that game. A lot of times when we’re going into initial meetings with partners, it comes up … When you’re the reigning CPL champion and you do it in that fashion, it definitely makes it easier to have partnership meetings and to get people involved with the club.”
Partnering with Atlético is less costly than partnering with an NHL team, Palaczka added, but brings as much value due to the team’s association with Atlético de Madrid.
“Supporting a local club like Atlético Ottawa that has international ties with Atlético de Madrid; there’s power behind that brand. The value to local businesses is so much greater today.”
The team’s partnerships go beyond corporate boxes at TD Place. In January, Atlético Ottawa announced that it was partnering with what was formerly Ottawa TFC, a local soccer club in Orleans, to become Atlético Ottawa Juniors.
Palaczka said the Atlético team met with the local club’s general manager, Pavel Cancura, to talk about how the partnership could help strengthen player pathways beyond the club level.
With the federal government investing $1 billion in sports infrastructure with a focus on soccer over the next few years, Palaczka said the future is bright. Plus, by supporting a local team, spectators could get the chance to watch Canada’s next big soccer star, he said.
“We have a player that is representing Canada at the U20 World Cup in Puebla, Mexico, Sergei Kozlovskiy. We are really trying to promote to Canadian soccer fans that some of your next World Cup stars are playing here. It’s no different to hockey.”
Going forward, Palaczka said the team will be strategic in its partnership approach, favouring quality over quantity.
“I think we found the recipe. Now it’s a question of making sure that partnerships are going to be meaningful for both sides.”
